Subtitle V. Division of Land
Chapter 20.80
SUBDIVISIONS – GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sections:
20.80.080 Limitation of liability.
20.80.010 Title.
(1) The ordinance codified in this subtitle shall be known as the city of Port Orchard subdivision code.
(2) This chapter shall be entitled “Subdivisions – General Provisions.” The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all chapters within this subtitle. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1)).
20.80.020 Authority.
This subtitle is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 58.17 RCW and the general police powers granted to the city pursuant to Chapters 35A.13 and 35A.63 RCW and other applicable laws. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1)).
20.80.030 Purpose.
The purpose of this subtitle is to provide rules, regulations, requirements, and standards for the subdivision of land, for obtaining binding site plans, and of the adjustment of existing lot lines within the city, ensuring:
(1) That the highest feasible quality in subdivisions will be obtained;
(2) That the public health, safety, general welfare, and aesthetics of the city shall be promoted and protected, complying with the provisions of Chapter 58.17 RCW;
(3) That orderly growth, development, and the conservation, protection, and proper use of land shall be promoted;
(4) That the proper provisions for all public facilities, including connectivity, circulation, utilities, and services, shall be made;
(5) That maximum advantage of site characteristics shall be taken into consideration;
(6) Undue and unnecessary burdens are not placed on either the applicant or the city; and
(7) That the process shall be in conformance with provisions set forth in this title and the Port Orchard comprehensive plan. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1)).
20.80.040 Applicability.
(1) The provisions of this subtitle shall apply to all lot line adjustments and the division of any land within the corporate limits of the city of Port Orchard for sale, lease, transfer, or building development into two or more parcels, except as expressly stated in this subtitle.
(2) Land use review procedures provided in Subtitle II (Permitting and Development Approval) of this title shall apply in addition to applicable provisions within this subtitle.
(3) No person, firm, or corporation proposing to make, or having made, any division of land as described above within the city limits shall enter any contract for the sale of, or shall offer to sell, any part of the division without having first obtained its approval as a short plat, subdivision plat, or binding site plan in accordance with this subtitle, unless such agreement for sale complies with RCW.
(4) All contiguous land shall be included in a plat application. Multiple applications or applications and/or exemptions shall not be utilized as a substitute for comprehensive subdividing in accordance with the requirements of this subtitle. The applicant shall certify that they have included all contiguous land in a plat application and that they do not own or otherwise have a legal interest in ownership of contiguous parcels.
(5) Any land being divided into nine or fewer parcels, lots, tracts, or sites shall conform to the short plat provisions of this subtitle. Nothing in this subtitle shall prevent a landowner who has short-platted a parcel into fewer than nine lots from filing a short plat within a five-year period to create up to a total of nine lots within the boundary of the original short plat. Any land being divided into 10 or more parcels, lots, tracts, or sites for any purpose, and any land which has been divided under the short plat process within five years, shall conform to the provisions of the preliminary and final plat procedures of this subtitle. The only exception to this provision shall be those lands being subdivided through the binding site plan procedures of this subtitle. (Ord. 017-23 § 1; Ord. 059-21 § 9; Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1)).
20.80.050 Exemptions.
Pursuant to RCW 58.17.040, the following activities are not considered short plats or plats and the provisions of this subtitle shall not apply:
(1) Cemeteries and other burial plots while used for that purpose;
(2) Divisions made by testamentary provisions, or the laws of descent;
(3) Divisions of land into lots or tracts classified for industrial or commercial use when the city has approved a binding site plan for the use of the land in accordance with this subtitle;
(4) A division for the purpose of lease when no residential structure other than mobile homes or travel trailers are permitted to be placed upon the land when the city has approved a binding site plan for the use of the land in accordance with this subtitle;
(5) Lot line adjustments made pursuant to this subtitle;
(6) A division for the purpose of leasing land for facilities providing personal wireless services while used for that purpose. “Personal wireless service” means any federally licensed personal wireless service. “Facilities” means unstaffed facilities that are used for the transmission or reception, or both, of wireless communication services including, but not necessarily limited to, antenna arrays, transmission cables, equipment shelters and support structures;
(7) A division of land related to the acquisition or exchange of land by public agencies for public use, except human occupancy, including but not limited to subdivisions made for road construction purposes;
(8) Portions of property deeded to the city for the limited purpose of providing a right-of-way and/or utility facilities, such as but not limited to the installation of linear utility facilities, such as electric power lines, telephone lines, water supply lines, sewer service lines, cable lines or other utility facilities of a similar or related nature; or a pump house, reservoir or well site; provided the remaining property is not reduced in size below the minimum square footage required by applicable zoning, that no conflict is created with any applicable design standards for the property, and that written approval from the community development director is received;
(9) Division of land due to condemnation or sale under threat thereof by an agency or division of government vested with the power of condemnation; if sale is made under threat of condemnation, such threat must be evidenced by the government agency filing affidavit so stating with the county auditor. (Ord. 017-23 § 1 (Exh. A); Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1)).
20.80.060 Document forms.
All short plats, final plats, replats or binding site plans shall contain the elements listed in RCW 58.17.160. In addition, the legal description of the subdivision, binding site plan, or boundary line adjustment, and easements, dedications, acknowledgements, and other statements, shall appear substantially in the form as follows, based on the type of land division to be recorded:
(1) Easements (Sample Utility Easement).
An easement is reserved for and granted to (the names of all the utilities, public and private, serving the area) and their respective successors and assigns under and upon the exterior ten (10) feet of front boundary lines of all lots and tracts, in which to install, lay, construct, renew, operate, maintain and remove utility systems, lines, fixtures and appurtenances attached thereto, for the purpose of providing utility services to the subdivision and other property, together with the right to enter upon the lots and tracts at all times for the purposes stated, with the understanding that any grantee shall be responsible for all unnecessary damage it causes to any real property owner in the subdivision by exercise of rights and privileges herein granted.
(2) Dedication. Roads not dedicated to the public must be clearly marked on the face of the plat. Any dedication, donation or grant as shown on the face of the plat shall be considered to all intents and purposes as a quitclaim deed to the said donee or donees, grantee or grantees, for their use for the purpose intended by the grantors or donors.
Know All Persons by these Presents that we, the undersigned owners in the fee simple or contract purchaser and mortgage holder of the land hereby platted, hereby declare this plat and dedicate to the use of the public forever all streets and avenues shown thereon and use thereof for all public purposes not inconsistent with the use thereof for public highway purposes; also the right to make all necessary slopes for cuts and fills upon the lots and blocks shown on this plat in the original reasonable grading of the streets and avenues shown hereon. The undersigned owners hereby waive all claims for damages against any governmental authority which may be occasioned to the adjacent land by the established construction, drainage and maintenance of said road. This subdivision has been made with our fee consent and in accordance with our desires.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our hands and seals this __ day of ____________
[Signature blocks and Notary Certificate to follow.]
(3) Acknowledgements or Notary Certificate. The forms for notary certificates are set forth in RCW 42.44.100.
(4) Surveyor’s Certificate.
I hereby certify that the plat of _______________is based upon a complete and actual survey and subdivision of Section_, Township_, Range_, East W.M.; that the courses and distances are shown correctly thereon, that the monuments have been set and the lot and block corners staked correctly on the ground; that this is a true and correct representation of the lands actually surveyed and that I have fully complied with the provisions of the statutes and platting regulations.
_____________________________________
Certificate: ____________________________
Expiration:____________________________
Date:________________________________
(5) City Engineer’s Approval.
I hereby certify that this final/short plat is consistent with all applicable Town/City improvement standards and requirements in force on the date of preliminary/short plat approval. I have approved this final/short plat as to the layout of streets, alleys and other rights-of-way, design of bridges, sewage and water systems and other structures. Examined and approved by me this __ day of , 20__.
____________________________________
City Engineer.
(6) Community Development Director’s Approval.
I hereby certify that this final/short plat is consistent with all applicable
Town/City improvement standards and requirements in force on the date of preliminary/short plat approval. I have approved this final/short plat as to the layout of streets, alleys and other rights-of-way, design of bridges, sewage and water systems and other structures. Examined and approved by me this __ day of , 20__.
____________________________________
Community Development Director.
(7) City Council Approval.
Approved by the City Council of the City of ____, this __ day of________.
_____________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
_____________________________________
City Clerk
(8) City Finance Director Approval.
I hereby certify that all taxes and delinquent assessments for which the property may be liable as of the date of certification have been duly paid, satisfied or discharged.
Executed this __ day of _____, 20_.
_____________________________________
Finance Director
(9) County Treasurer Approval.
This is to certify that all taxes heretofore levied and which has become a lien upon the lands herein described, have been fully paid and discharged, according to the records of my office, up to and including the year __.
Executed this __ day of _____, 20_.
County Treasurer
____________________________________
(10) County Auditor.
Filed at the request of ___________________, this day of ______________________, 20__, and recorded in Volume _____ of Plats, page(s) _____, Records of _____________ County, Washington.
__________________________________
County Auditor
(Ord. 017-23 § 1 (Exh. A); Ord. 056-19 § 20).
20.80.070 Consent to access.
All persons applying for approvals under this subtitle shall permit free access to the land subject to the application to all agencies with jurisdiction considering the proposal for the period of time extending from the date of application to the time of final action. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1). Formerly 20.80.060).
20.80.080 Limitation of liability.
It is the specific intent of this subtitle and procedures adopted under this subtitle to place the obligation of complying with the requirements of this subtitle upon the permittee, and no provision is intended to impose any duty upon the city, or any of its officers, employees, or agents. Nothing contained in this subtitle is intended to be or shall be construed to create or form the basis for liability on the part of the city, or its officers, employees, or agents, for any injury or damage resulting from the failure of the permittee to comply with the provisions of this subtitle, or by reason or in consequence of any act or omission in connection with the implementation or enforcement of this subtitle or any procedures adopted under this subtitle by the city, its officers, employees, or agents. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1). Formerly 20.80.070).
20.80.090 Severability.
If any part, sentence, paragraph, subsection, section, or clause of this subtitle is adjudged unconstitutional, or held invalid, the remainder of the subtitle or the application of the provisions to other persons, property, structures, or circumstances shall not be affected. Whenever any condition or limitation is included in an order authorizing a planned development or any site plan approval, it shall be conclusively presumed that the authorizing officer or body consider such condition or limitation necessary to carry out the spirit and purpose of this subtitle or the requirement of some provision hereof, and to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, and that the officer or body would not have granted the authorization to which the condition or limitation pertains except in the belief that the condition or limitation was lawful. (Ord. 056-19 § 20; Ord. 028-19 § 3 (Exh. 1); Ord. 019-17 § 18 (Exh. 1). Formerly 20.80.080).